


Find Something to Live For

by yujael



Series: Minty Fresh [2]
Category: Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-26 12:02:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/650312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujael/pseuds/yujael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He didn't believe a lot of things before he met Arumat.</p>
<p>Sequel to The Healing Properties of Mints.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Find Something to Live For

“You told me he was in remission.”

“I did.”

Edge frowned at his friend of nearly twenty years, dumbfounded. “Why?”

Crowe’s expression was neutral, no emotion. “Because he asked me to. Arumat isn’t the type to take pity toward him lightly; he wanted to be treated the same way he always was.”

“He’s dying, Crowe.”

“You think I don’t know that?” There was pain in Crowe’s voice, the barest trace of it in his face, but his eyes remained on the road. The car was quiet but for the low hum of the engine. Reimi sat in the back seat, silently picking at a loose thread on her sleeve. Edge stared out the window at the side mirror, wondering if any of the cars behind them were heading to the hospital as well.

“I know it, Edge,” Crowe continued. “He’s dying and there’s nothing I can do and all the mints in the world won’t help him.”

It hadn’t been until Edge opened the glove box that he realized how much Crowe spent on mints (mint flavoured toffees, specifically). There were three bags in there and there were wrappers anywhere he looked (not to mention the entire car smelled like mints). Between that and the seemingly random travels he and Arumat went on, Edge thought that it was no wonder that Crowe still hadn’t gone back to University.

“I accepted that a long time ago,” Crowe murmured as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. They said nothing as they climbed out of the car.

\--

Edge hated hospital waiting rooms; they reminded him of when he was a kid, always in and out of the place every few months. The chairs were a little more comfortable, but that was about it. Reimi flipped through a magazine and Crowe only stared at the wall across the room, elbows on his knees and his chin resting in his hands. They stayed like that for almost fifteen minutes.

“I think you convinced him,” Crowe said at last, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“On a list of the most stubborn people in the world, Arumat’s probably near the top,” Crowe explained, leaning back in his chair and picking up a magazine. “And so are you, Edge. I think you convinced him… to take this last shot.”

Edge blinked and then stared at his hands. He and Arumat hadn’t really known each other at first, mostly communicating through Crowe, but as time passed and their close knit group of strangers and weirdoes (this was speaking lightly – scenes between Faize and Lymle or Sarah and Meracle were frequent) opened up to him, Arumat did too, albeit a little slowly. They got to know each other pretty well, but Edge felt a little betrayed now. None of them, except for Crowe and Bacchus, knew that Arumat’s leukemia plagued him still.

“He told me that being around you guys,” Crowe went on, opening the magazine. “It made him feel good. He lost some good people in his life, but he was glad to call you guys his friends.”

Edge swallowed; he didn’t know what to say to that.

“When I first met him,” Reimi began, almost startling him. He turned and saw her smiling. “He scared the shit out of me.”

Crowe chuckled. “Yeah, that’s a bad habit of his. Once you get past that, he’s easier to be around, you know?”

“But he’s still young,” Edge clenched his fists. “And he was ready to just give up?”

“Before he met me and you, yeah, I reckon he was,” Crowe dropped the magazine again.

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Edge, if he really gave up, do you think we’d be sitting here now?” Crowe smiled at him and shook his head. “You know we wouldn’t.”

Edge nodded and let himself fall against the back of the chair. Reimi sniffed next to him and raised her sleeve to her eyes. “Anybody want anything from the vending machine?”

A few seconds passed before Crowe replied.

“Toffees would be nice.”

\--

It was another thirty minutes before a doctor approached them. The waiting room smelled like mints thanks to Crowe and Edge was trying not to stare at the family sitting near them for too long. He was searching for something else to look at when Crowe suddenly stood up. Edge followed him with his eyes and saw the familiar form of Bacchus standing in the hallway. Reimi was trying to act like she was still reading, but Edge knew she wasn’t. She was waiting for the results of the treatment, the last in a series of hospital trips within the last few months, just like he was, but Edge didn’t get up. If anyone should hear what Bacchus had to say, it was Crowe.

Maybe he would start with an apology of sorts. Or maybe Crowe would just cut to the chase and say it for him. Edge tried to listen to what was being said even though they were whispering. Then, after a moment where Crowe seemed to freeze, the red head grabbed the doctor by the shoulders and said loud enough for all to hear,

“Don’t be fucking with me here, Bacchus.”

Edge frowned. Was there a tremor in his voice? He stood up and Reimi followed just in time for Bacchus to reply, “I am not, Crowe,” and they watched as Crowe suddenly squeezed the man with a cry of laughter.

“What’s going on?” Reimi asked.

“He’s gonna live!” Crowe exclaimed, arms still around Bacchus’ shoulders. “He’s gonna be okay!”

It was like a large bubble in his chest had popped; releasing all of the tension and the breath he’d been holding. Edge grinned and Reimi wrapped her arms around him. “Really?”

“Yeah – it’s gone, he says! It worked!”

Edge returned Reimi’s embrace enthusiastically. Over her shoulder, he saw the tired looking woman looking at them, holding her children’s hands. She smiled at him as if to congratulate them.

“Is he awake?” Crowe asked, finally releasing Bacchus, who seemed a little flustered at Crowe’s reaction.

“I wouldn’t say he’s entirely conscious right now-”

“That’s okay; I just want to see him.”

\--

To say that Edge felt a little out of place in Arumat’s room, standing in the background with Reimi while Crowe sat next to his bed, would have been an understatement. That was why he and Reimi were now standing in the waiting room again with their phones out. Reimi was sending text messages to Faize while Edge listened to Meracle screaming in his ear, telling about how great this day had just become. Eventually the phone was taken from her and Edge heard Eleyna’s voice.

“I take it your friend’s treatment was successful?” The woman said, her deeper tones a relieving contrast to Meracle’s. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Eleyna, I’m glad he pulled through.”

“You didn’t expect him to do so?”

“Well – there was a big chance he wouldn’t – I mean, it isn’t like-”

“You’re still too easily flustered,” Eleyna told him before the line went quiet again.

“Eleyna? Are you still there?”

“She’s making supper,” Meracle replied, apparently calm before she began speaking faster again. “Where are you guys? Send a car – I wanna see him!”

“Give him time to rest,” Edge said, holding a hand up even though he was speaking over the phone. “It’s been tough, you know.”

“I know that!” Meracle made a whining noise (it was true; if anyone knew what the definition of “tough” was, it was Meracle). “What if I brought a present?”

“A present?”

“Yeah! Then I would get to see him, right?”

Edge grinned, “Maybe.”

“Great – what should I get?”

Edge was at a loss for what to say. What _did_ one give Arumat for a present? What did Crowe do? He turned toward Reimi, now on the phone with Myuria (and maybe Sarah) and behind her, lying on the table where they’d been waiting, he saw the wrappers they’d left behind earlier.

Or course.

\--

He was tired and a little irritable (though only Crowe could tell that), but Arumat was awake. The recent bouts of chemotherapy had made him much thinner, paler if it were possible and feeling more ill than either of them cared to think about. The chemo had also caused his hair to fall out, but they didn’t care about that either. Lying in a bed wearing a white hospital gown and covered by a white blanket, Crowe thought that Arumat was the closest thing to a ghost he was ever going to see.

“How are you feeling?” Crowe asked after pulling a chair from across the room. “Don’t act tough; Edge and Reimi aren’t in the room anymore. No doubt they’ll be back eventually though.”

Arumat opened his eyes and turned his head in Crowe’s direction. “I feel like shit.”

“Don’t worry about that, you’ll get better.”

Arumat gave the smallest of the smiles and closed his eyes. “When did you tell Edge that I was getting chemo?”

“This morning,” Crowe replied quietly, reaching for Arumat’s hand. His fingers were chilly. “I asked him to come today; he was pissed at me for not telling him anything until now, but him and Reimi both came out. Everyone else probably knows by now, too.”

“Course they do, when does Edge keep secrets?”

“He might’ve if you asked him to.”

Arumat snorted, “Doubtful.”

Crowe chuckled in agreement and they both fell silent, listening to the small hum of the medical equipment.

“I...” Armuat paused to think, taking a few slow breaths before continuing. “I do feel lighter.”

“Lighter?”

“Much lighter, like I would float away if I didn’t also feel like a sack of dead weight,” Arumat explained, opening his eyes. “Tired... but ready to wake up tomorrow and face another day.”

“That’s relief, Arumat; happiness. You’re going to live.” Crowe leaned down and pressed his lips against Arumat’s and then let their foreheads touch. “You should get some rest, then.”

“So should you,” Arumat replied, “you look like crap.”

Crowe smiled, it was probably true – dark circles under his eyes, hair he hadn’t bothered to brush fully before tying up and the overall look of an exhausted person. “That better not have been a ploy to get me to leave.” After a quick peck Crowe sat back in his chair. “Go to sleep, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Arumat closed his eyes. “Of course you will.”

\--

Crowe was there when he woke up, but so was the smell of mints and the distinct feeling that he was being stared at. Arumat opened his eyes, immediately confirming Crowe’s presence – still in the chair he’d pulled over and chewing something – and also that of a certain indigo haired girl.

“Hi Mattie!” Meracle greeted as soon as she realized he was awake. “Edge said you liked mint toffees, so I brought a bunch!”

When Arumat shot an accusing look at Edge, who was standing near the door, the man grinned sheepishly and said, “Crowe told me that you like mints.”

When Arumat turned his gaze on Crowe, he smiled as well and said, “I did no such thing, they figured it out, it’s not my fault you eat them all the time.”

“I do not eat them all the time,” Arumat grumbled.

“Close enough,” Crowe shrugged.

Arumat sighed. “How long have you been here?”

“Meracle’s only been here a few minutes,” Crowe replied, “woke me up coming in. You’ve only been out a couple hours. Not long enough; you still look like death.”

“I am death,” Arumat said, his sight falling on the toffees that Meracle brought. They were all over his bed and the empty wrappers were left on the bedside table, the pile growing steadily. How many were there? He was in the process of counting when Crowe extended a hand toward him. A toffee was lying in his palm. “I don’t think that’s recommended.”

“Just one then, I don’t think Bacchus will complain too much,” Crowe said, grinning and winking. “Besides, I am a firm believer that there isn’t any problem a bit of mint can’t help.”

Arumat smirked; he should have seen that coming. He took the toffee and sat up slowly. “You wouldn’t have believed that before you met me.”

“I wouldn’t have done or believed a lot of things before you, the healing properties of mints and the ability to drive with one hand tied behind my back among them, but now I do.”

“Of course you do,” Arumat muttered as he unwrapped the toffee. “And that incident was your fault anyway.”

“Just eat the damn toffee.”

\--

Crowe didn’t start crying until he left the room to find something to eat. A ten minute trip across the road to get something to throw together for dinner turned into a half an hour in the car, parked in the grocery parking lot while Crowe leaned against the steering wheel, shoulders shaking, whispering, “He’s gonna live,” over and over again.

Edge had never seen Crowe crying. He wasn’t bawling or sobbing like a teenage girl or anything like that, just quietly sucking in breaths while tears flowed down the bridge of his nose, but even that was a shock. Crowe was a pillar of strength, always bright, wanting to help others, keep others afloat. It never occurred to Edge that this man could be sad, too.

A lot of things never occurred to him about Crowe before he met Arumat, Edge realized.

He reached over and patted his friend on the shoulder. “You went in there prepared for the worst. I’m really glad that you’re both coming out again, Crowe. You two are good for each other, you know?”

Crowe sucked in a few more breath before he spoke. “You think so, huh?”

“Duh. If you two weren’t so dead set on each other, you’d be sitting here crying for a different reason.”

“’M not crying,” Crowe said as he sat up, wiping his red eyes. He sniffed a couple times as he stared out the windshield. “I’m okay now... Thanks, Edge.”

Edge smiled. “Any time. Are we getting out now?”

Crowe nodded and unbuckled his seat belt. “Yep, let’s go, gotta get back before Meracle throws Arumat into a fit and makes him try to leave the hospital.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was also posted on tumblr. I started writing it while listening to the song "As it Seems" by Lily Kershaw. It came complete with a cheesy ending and everything (even though it might be improbable - it was requested that Arumat live no matter what).


End file.
